The Mother, Love Hate and Everything in Between: Bottled

The mother figure, a foundational archetype not just in art, represents fertility, nurturing, sacrifice, and divinity, evolving from ancient fertility idols into paintings such as Madonna and Child in Western art. Or even think of the Venus de Milo, the ‘perfect’ woman with her curvaceous flesh and honeyed tones, these are artists’ representations in a way impossible to reach, the idealised mother, the idealised female, usually, of course, from the male gaze. And then there is the flipside, some art forms depict the mother as evil, or even capture a moral condemnation, a ‘punishment’ for the mother who dares to reject her maternal role or desires. From the Symbolist art of say, Giovanni Segantini, rooted in the idea of punishing women who refuse to prioritise motherhood, which was considered their ‘natural destiny’, to the film about Joan Crawford’s time as a mother, in the book and film Mommie Dearest. The subject is a complex one; there is our natural love towards our maternal figures, alongside ugly emotions that can come with it, too. One thing that works in many ways is the smell of our mothers, their natural scent, but what if the idea of this complex relationship were turned into a perfume? This complex glory is explored in a new scent from Eris called Mother’s Milk. Explore it here in The Mother, Love Hate and Everything in Between: Bottled.

New perfume 2026

It’s fair to say many of us have complex emotions with our mothers because the mother-child bond is often our first, most formative, and often longest-lasting relationship. Ultimately, it is usually the foundation for a person’s sense of self, self-worth, and understanding of trust. In early life, the mother is our ‘secure base’ from which we view the world.

The Virgin and Child (The Madonna of the Book) Sandro Botticelli

Mothers

Interestingly, the arts have not held back in their portrayal of women, seemingly from a perfect virgin icon to harsh critical representations. Up until the mid-20th century, most of this was from the male perspective and seen as a projection of what women should be and being particularly judgmental of ‘the mother figure.’

Madonna and Child

There is a combination of deeply ingrained cultural taboos and archaic notions that equate motherhood with a loss of creative, intellectual, or sexual vitality. Or the idea that ‘mothers behaving badly’ face scrutiny when they prioritise their own needs first. Hence, why the Madonna and Child, an archetype, has been a primary, revered subject in Western art for centuries, representing the divine and idealised nurturing. Yet as we know, it’s far more complex than some simple idealised representation.

Female Representation in Art

Then there is the other side of female representation in art. The Evil Mother or The Bad Mothers  ( Le cattive madri) is an oil painting by Italian artist Giovanni Segantini, created in 1894. It is the last of four works in which he keeps returning to the motif of women in trees. A cruel symbolic painting depicting the punishment of women who rejected motherhood. Based on Luigi Illica’s poem ‘Nirvana,’ it presents a woman entangled in barren trees, having their blood sucked by trees as atonement for not being a mother, in an icy alpine landscape.

The Evil Mothers by Giovanni Segantini, 1894

Giovanni Segantini

Another of his paintings, The Punishment of Lust, shows women being punished for preferring a life of ease over a life of duty by being suspended among the barren landscape of the Alps

Giovanni Segantini, The Punishment of Lust

Mommie Dearest

And of course, a third (of four) paintings, The Angel of Life AKA Christian Goddess (1894), depicts a mother and child in a stylised tree. It celebrates tender, divine motherly love and spiritual transcendence, often paired with themes of nature. Yet it has not just been in paintings, but cinema and literature have also played their part in demonising women. From the evil stepmother, the childhood fairytale Cinderella, to the one who has an affair, Emma Bovary from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Or the film Mommie Dearest, which was a book before it was made into a film.

Tell-All Memoir

In both the book and film, Hollywood icon Joan Crawford is a dedicated and career-driven actress. Despite all her success, she longs to have a child; however, she has suffered a series of miscarriages. Applied to adopt a child with no luck, with the help of her lover, she adopts a baby girl, Christina. She later adopts a boy, naming him Christopher.

Joan Crawford

Mommie Dearest 1981, is Christina’s biographical psychological drama, a tell-all memoir detailing the abusive upbringing of her and her brother under their adoptive mother, the legendary actress. It portrays Joan as a controlling, obsessive, and alcoholic parent, prioritising her Hollywood image over her children’s safety

For many of us, the word ‘Mother’ evokes primal needs, shelter, comfort, protection, nourishment and love: not everyone’s reality, of course. It also brings with it a complexity not given space in works of art, literature or even music. Motherhood is complex and multifaceted, beautiful yet ugly. But we have an instinctive need for our mothers, to feel safe, with the potential starting point being a mother’s milk, the smell and sensation, an initial bonding emotion. Could this potentially be why lactonic (milky) perfumes are so popular?

In a difficult and troubled world, a growing desire for comfort, nostalgia, and ‘skin-scent’ perfumes seems to offer a soothing, intimate experience, as opposed to full-bodied, rich scents with silages that fill a space bigger than the wearer. But as we know, not all perfumes are created equal, just as mothers are not.

Mother’s Milk by Eris Parfums by Barbara Herman, is a unisex “milky, floral, animalic” fragrance released in 2026, composed by perfumer Antoine Lie: a silky-milky, floral, animalic Vanilla. But here it’s not just about the milk-loving comfort of a mother and child; it explores everything from the ‘good’ mother to the ‘bad’ mother, the loving emotions to the painful, sometimes darker emotions we find particularly uncomfortable.

So what notes make up this elixir, and how do they represent the light and dark if you like? It opens with Milk Accord, Damask Rose Oil, its opening soft, enticing, which leads to a hint of darkness in its centre with Buttery Orris, which brings powdery comfort alongside a hint of a dark, earthy facet alongside rich (but not sweet) Vanilla. This makes a finale with soft wood of Sandalwood, hug from Musk, offering a darker shadow via Cacao (it has a bitterness) with a touch of dark animalic softness from a Suede accord.

Just as a mother’s love can be as disruptive as it can be a simple comfort, this perfume perfectly sums up the Yin-Yang of the complex emotions, albeit a grown-up scent, that punctuates our loving relationship; creamy, comforting and instinctive love, with a dark twist of realism

Find Mother’s Milk by Eris here and buy it here wild-iris.com

If you enjoyed reading The Mother, Love Hate and Everything in Between: Bottled, then why not read Skin and Blister, the love between sisters here.

.Cent Magazine, London. Luxury Mindset